1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, an ink or solvent cartridge, and a bottle included in the cartridge.
2. Description of Related Art
An ink jet recording apparatus is used for printing characters or graphics on the surface of a workpiece (JP 2007-190724 A). The ink jet recording apparatus is generally called “ink jet printer”. The ink jet printer includes a head which is placed above a manufacturing line and a controller body which supplies ink to the head. The ink jet printer charges an ink liquid and forms the ink liquid into droplets, and deflects the ink droplets to thereby perform printing on the surface of a workpiece.
In the ink jet recording apparatus disclosed in JP 2007-190724 A, the ink liquid is continuously supplied to the head even when ink droplets are not printed on a workpiece and the supplied ink liquid is collected through a gutter as an ink receiver. That is, the ink jet recording apparatus disclosed in JP 2007-190724 A is a continuous type ink jet printer.
As a method for replenishing an ink jet recording apparatus with an ink or solvent, there are employed many methods in which a reserve tank is installed in an ink jet recording apparatus (JP 2007-190724 A). However, in the methods in which a reserve tank is installed in an ink jet recording apparatus, filling the reserve tank with ink may cause contamination of the surroundings of the reserve tank. In view of such a circumstance, an ink jet recording apparatus that employs a cartridge system using a cartridge which can be attached to and detached from the ink jet recording apparatus has come to be available.
In a cartridge type ink jet recording apparatus of this kind, a recording medium is mounted on a cartridge that is totally made of a hard resin material, and the amount of remaining ink or the like is recorded on the recording medium. The recording medium mounted on the cartridge has a metal contact which physically makes contact with a metal connector of the ink jet recording apparatus after the cartridge is attached to a reservoir of the ink jet recording apparatus so that the recording medium is electrically connected to the ink jet recording apparatus.
In a cartridge type ink jet recording apparatus, when shock or external force is applied to a cartridge, a contact failure may occur at a contact point between a metal contact of a recording medium in the cartridge and a metal connector of the ink jet recording apparatus. More specifically, the cartridge includes an ink bottle and a rigid case which is made of a hard material and covers the entire ink bottle, and the recording medium is fixed to the rigid case. Therefore, external force or shock applied to the rigid case is directly transmitted to the metal contact of the recording medium, which may cause a contact failure in the contact point.
In particular, in an ink jet recording apparatus that employs a cartridge system, the cartridge is frequently inserted and removed. Therefore, a contact failure is likely to occur therein. For example, when a user grasps the rigid case and inserts the cartridge into the ink jet recording apparatus, an excessive force may be applied in a direction generally perpendicular to the insertion direction and the applied force may be directly transmitted to the metal contact of the recording medium, which may disadvantageously cause a contact failure in the contact point.